High heel protector and repair device



y 1 P. T. VALENTI 3,035,357

HIGH HEEL PROTECTOR AND REPAIR DEVICE Filed Oct. 10, 1958 INVENTOR.Pflsau/uf 7. M41 E/VT/ United States Patent 3,035 357 HIGH HEELPROTECTOfi AND REPAIR DEVICE Pasquale Thomas Valenti, Yonkers, N.Y.,assignor t0 Tangie Products, Inc., Yonkers, N.Y., a corporation of NewYork Filed Oct. 10, 1958, Ser. No. 766,59 Claims. (Cl. 36-1) Thisinvention relates to high heels of ladies shoes and particularly refersto an ornamental device for the protection and repair of high heels ofladies shoes.

High heel shoes have been an essential part of every womans wardrobe formany years. A popular style of ladies shoes today has a high, narrowheel, commonly referred to as a spike.

As normally constructed, a high heel of a lady's shoe can withstand alarge compressive force but has relatively little shear strength. As aresult, ladies high heels are easily broken when any sudden transverseforce is applied thereto, such as when a heel is caught in sidewalkgratings which are commonly found over underground openings such asbasement windows, public utilities underground areas, subways, etc.Also, ladies high heels are frequently broken by the transverse forceresulting from the wearer stumbling and in attempting to regain herbalance places her weight unevenly on the heel. Recently there has beenan attempt by shoe manufacturers to remedy this situation in the higherpriced ladies shoes by inserting an iron rod and associated materialaxially in the heel unit to increase its shear strength.

If a high heel is broken while away from home, it is a serious problemto the woman involved, since the shoe can no longer be used for walking.Even if a shoe repair shop is available, the replacement of a high heelcannot ordinarily be accomplished during the period of time that thewearer can wait. Also, replacement of a high heel of a ladys shoe is arelatively expensive job. If the broken part of the heel still isavailable, the shoe repair shop will normally join the broken part tothe heel stub by adhesive tape or other temporary means for appearancesake only. However, the heel remains not usable for walking.

Accordingly a need exists for a device which will increase the shearstrength of high heels of ladies shoes and allows the repairing of awide variety of broken high heels quickly and inexpensively and in amanner that will not detract from the appearance of the shoes.

Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a devicepermitting quick and easy repair of broken high heels of ladies shoes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a device forrepairing broken high heels of ladies shoes in a variety of ornamentalforms and shapes, which enhances the appearance of the shoes.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide an attachableand detachable decorative assemblage for use with a ladys high heel shoewhich adds transverse strength to the high heels and which may be easilyapplied by any unskilled person.

Still another object is to provide a device for use with high heels ofladies shoes that accomplishes all of the above and yet is simple,durable, inexpensive to produce and easy to use.

Other objects and features of the invention will be more apparent whenthe following description is considered in connection with the annexeddrawings in which FIG. 1 is a perspective elevational view of one formof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of a ladys high heel shoe having thepresent invention secured thereto;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the rear portion of a ladies highheel shoe with its high heel broken;

FIG. 4 is an elevational sectional view showing the broken heel of theladys shoe repaired by use of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional plan view taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, the high heel protecting device is a hollow,generally conical shaped protector or shell 11 adapted to encompass ahigh heel 12 of a ladys shoe 13 as shown in FIG. 2. Applicant has foundthat only a few different tapers and lengths of protector 11 willsatisfactorily fit predominantly all of the wide variety of ladies highheels on the market.

A shoe heel of a type to which protector 11 is advantageously applied isillustratively shown in FIGURE 2 at 12; such heel being round at itsback and side portions up to a forward breast or front portion 15 andrunning vertically up the heel and across the shoe, all as is familiarin the art. As shown, the heel is downwardly and inwardly flaredconverging into a narrow solid heel portion 16. Heel 12 is normally madeof plastic, wood, composition material or the like.

Protector 11 has a vertical fiat wall or surface 14 which corresponds inshape to the front or breast surface 15 of high heel 12. The side andrear surfaces of protector 11 have a curved contour which corresponds tothe round side and rear portions of heel 12 of ladys shoe 13. The curvedwalls of protector 11 converge downwardly and inwardly to form a narrowheel or lift portion 16a and are tapered inwardly slightly more than theside of high heel 12 for wedging heel 12 and protector 11 together uponheel 12 being inserted within protector 11, as will be described below.Due to difference in tapers between the inside surface of protector 11and high heel 12, protector 11 is securely held in place on heel 11,resulting in positive attachment therebetween.

To insure complete protection against broken high heels, protector 11 isslidably positioned on heel 12 having fiat surface 14 of protector 11juxtaposed to fiat-surface 15 of heel 12. Protector 11 is wedged tightlyin place. The length of protector 11 chosen in such that the heelportion of protector 11 is slightly above a lift 21 when shoe 13 isworn. Applicant has found that heel protector 11 should be aboutthree-quarters of the length of heel 12 to secure a good fit withadequate protection in the easiest manner. The height of protector 11 isgreater than its Width or depth at its smallest cross section andpreferably greater than its width or depth at its largest cross section.A matching mate of protector 11 is placed on the heel of the mate toshoe 13.

An important consideration for any device for use with womens clothingis appearance. Protector 11 may have different types of surfaces orornamentation thereon, such as serrations, crenulations or scalloping ofthe upper edges (as shown in FIG. 1) for use as an accessory to theshoes or clothing. Protector 11 may be made of metal or plastic and havea variety of colors and shades for use with the varied colored ladiesshoes with which it is to be used.

To insure more positive attachment between protector 11 and heel 12,pointed teeth may be placed on the inner surface of shell 11 preferablyon the inner heel portion of front face 14 and forced to penetrate intoheel 12 to prevent dislodgement of protector 11. A further method ofpositively attaching protector 11 to heel 12 is to provide severalopenings in front face 14 for inserting nails therethrough into heel 12.These methods of attaching protector 11 to heel 12 prevent the easyremoval of protector 11 as is obtained when using only friction asdiscussed above.

Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, the present invention is used forrepairing a broken heel 17 of a ladys shoe. The broken heel stub istrimmed as shown in PEG. 4, making the bottom surface 25 substantiallyparal- 3 lel to the ground when the shoe is in walking position. A shell18, substantially Similar to shell 11 described above relative to FIGURE1, is placed over broken heel 17 making tight frictional contact withthe outer surfaces of heel 17 due to the wedging action of the taperedsurfaces. A plug having the same contour but with smaller dimensionsthan the inner walls of shell 18 so as to abut the inner surfacestherewith is made of wood, plastic, rubber composition or similar typematerial. Plug 20 is trimmed so that the upper surface of plug 20 abutsthe trimmed bottom face of broken heel 17, as shown in FIG. 4 when inoperating position. 7

Plug 20 should preferably be about three-fourths of the length of shell18. Plug 20 has a nail 22 therethrough, which is driven into the stub ofheel 17, providing a secure attachment. Abutting the bottom face of plug20 is a lift 23, which preferably covers the bottom, horizontal edges ofshell 18. Lift 23 is secured in any suitable manner to plug 20, such asby nailing or gluing.

Shell 18 is securely held to the stub of heel 17 due to the wedgingaction between its inner surfaces and the outer surfaces of heel 17, aswell as by the combination of plug 26, which is securely attached toheel 1.7 by nail 22 and lift 23 which abuts the bottom edge of shell 18and is mounted on plug 20.

While the above described embodiments of the invention have a preferredconstruction, it is to be understood that the present invention is notnecessarily restricted thereto. Thus nail 22 may be replaced by ananchoring pin or the use of nail 22 may be dispensed with by havingpointed teeth facing inwardly at the upper edge of shell 18 along itsfront face 24 for engagement with the front face of broken heel 17. Plug20 can be positively secured to shell 18 by having suitable holes alongthe lower front face of shell 18 abutting plug 20, and inserting nailstherethrough into plug 21.

It will also be understood that though the shell may be of any suitablematerial, preferably plastic or metal, it should generally be ofrelatively thin construction to mask or otherwise de-accentuate thesubstitution.

Since many apparently different structures may be readily devised bythose skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the presentinvention, it is understood that the foregoing description isillustrative only, the scope of the invention being defined solely bythe claims granted.

What is claimed is:

l. A device for repairing a broken high heel of a ladys shoe, comprisingan integral one piece hollow body having a wide top portion, said bodyportion having a D-shaped cross-section corresponding to thecrosssection of said heel, the curved portion of said body taperinginwardly and downwardly from the perimeter of said top portion to form anarrow heel portion, a

rigid D-shaped insert disposed within said body abutting the innersurfaces of said body, said taper of said body being slightly greaterthan the taper of said heel so that upon slidably inserting said brokenheel into the top of said hollow body, the upper surface of said insertabuts the lower surface of said broken heel and the correspondingsurfaces of said body and said heel are wedged into tight engagement,and means for fixedly securing said insert to said heel.

2. Device as in claim 1 wherein said hollow body is about three-fourthsof the length of said high heel and said insert is about three-fourthsthe length of said hollow body.

3. A device for repairing a broken high heel of a ladys shoe, comprisinga hollow body having a wide top portion and converging downwardly andinwardly from the perimeter of said top portion to form a narrow heelportion, the vertical surfaces of said body being similar in contour tothe corresponding surfaces of said heel, an in sert disposed within thelower portion of said body abutting the inner surfaces of said body,said insert being of such length that upon said broken heel beingreceived within the upper portion of said body and wedged into tightengagement therewith the upper surface of said insert abuts the lowersurface of said broken heel, and means for fixedly securing said insertto said heel.

4. A device for repairing a broken high heel of a shoe comprising anintegral one piece hollow rigid body having a wide top portion, saidbody tapering inwardly and downwardly from the perimeter of said topportion to form a narrow heel portion and having a cross sectioncorresponding to the cross section of said heel and having correspondingmating surfaces, said taper of said body varying slightly from the taperof said heel, an insert disposed within the lower portion of said bodyand extending upwardly therefrom so that upon slidably inserting saidbroken heel into the top portion of said hollow body the upper surfaceof said insert abuts the lower surface of said broken heel and thecorresponding mating surfaces of said body and said heel are wedged intotight engagement, and means for maintaining said insert and said heel inabutting relation.

5. A device as in claim 4 wherein said maintaining means includes a toplift abutting the lower end surface of said hollow body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS914,810 Dempsey Mar. 9, 1909 1,138,725 Capdevila May 11, 1915 1,841,027Gruber Jan. 12, 1932 2,076,514 Huffman Apr. 6, 1937 2,109,193 Field eta] Feb. 22, 1938

